Moms - When do you find the time?

Mom of a 2.5-year-old, work full time as a marketing manager (50+ hours/week), grad school part time...it's hard. You don't "find" time. You MAKE time. I get up at 3:40 every day to work out and shower because my husband leaves the house at 5:30 and it's just me and the kiddo getting ready in the morning.

You could do some of the following...
1. Get outside with your kids (weather permitting) Sometimes I will walk up and down my driveway while they ride bikes, or walk around my property.
2. This is when a workout video could come in handy. Get them busy or put in a movie for them, and you can go in another room and get your workout on!
3. I take my daughter with me to Zumba. She loves it as much as I do!

It may even mean you do 10 min. here and 10 min. there. As long as you get it in, it's not going to matter!
OH and I'm a 38 year old mother of a 6 year old daughter and a 4 year old son.

I wake up at 4:30 AM during the week and do it before anyone is up. It's not hard once you get into a routine. I also sometimes exercise during lunch break. When your body adjusts, you'll actually have more energy!

Hope this helps. And since most shared, I have three children and work fulltime.

I am a working mom of a rambunctious 3-year-old. Even before my son was born, I complained that my lifestyle was just too hectic to accomodate a good workout. Then, once my son came into my life, I REALLY didn't know how to find the time.

The truth? The time was there, I just didn't know how to use it. I was making excuses for myself and I was using my son as an excuse. I would never want him to think that he was the reason I wasn't living a healthy lifestyle.

Now, I may not be a great role model in this case as I have only been consistently working out for 3.5 weeks, but I actually think something has clicked this time and I officially have the excercise bug. I get up 30 minutes earlier than I normally would, sneak downstairs and do the 30 Day Shred - it's 20-25 minutes. My son is still in bed. I am still getting a decent amount of sleep at night and I have now found a way to take care of myself. No more excuses...

I am 34, mother of 2, ages 7 (girl) and almost 13 (boy). I also work a Full Time 40 hour job and my husband works out of town Monday thru Friday, so I am a single mother Monday thru Friday. If I am not feeling too exhausted in the evenings, I will either walk or play the Wii Just Dance (huge calorie burner and FUN) WITH my kids. It makes working out a lot easier to have them join you. If they do not want to work out with me I may put in an exercise DVD and work out anyway.

In about a month my sons sports will start again and then I will be struggling to exercise with all of the running I will be doing. We live in the country so I have to drive them anywhere they need to go. It is not easy. I think my plan will be to try to go to the HS track and walk while he is at practice, I will just have to make my daughter go with me and she can either play or walk with me.

I work full time and have a 3 and 5 year old. I find it easiest to fit in a workout as soon as we get home (usually between 4:30 and 5:30). If I wait until after dinner, I won't have the energy and/or my food won't be settled. I do a variety of workouts. Twice a week we take the kids with us to the gym (they go in the daycare) and we workout for 90 minutes. They love the playtime. I also make sure they SEE me workout a few days a week (ie, running on treadmill, Jillian Michaels DVD, etc). Often, my husband will hang out with them while I run on the treadmill but they are always within sight so they can see what I'm doing. My kids will workout with me, although they don't make it all the way through. If I have a DVD in, they do parts of it with me. I will also burn a good amount of calories playing Wii Dance for kids with them. If I am out of ideas and everyone in the house is low on energy I will crank up the music and have a dance party - it's a great calorie burn and gets everyone moving. I went through the phase of not taking my kids to the gym because I felt like I was taking them from one daycare to another. Eventually, I realized I was doing a bigger disservice to them by being unhealthy and an extra hour 2 times a week wouldn't kill them - turns out they actually ask to go now.

Depending on the age of your kids, ask them to join you in an activity. My 3 year old is not old enough to go on a jog with me but my 5 year old will. We actually have several 1 mile fun runs we have signed up for this spring and she's very excited about them. My oldest looks at our exercise time as her "special" time with Mommy because it's just her and I.

On days I know I will not be able to workout, for whatever reason, I make sure I do things around the house in as many trips as possible. Essentially, I purposefully decrease my efficiency and take the laundry up one stack at a time instead of a full basket to turn 1 trip into 4 or more. Every little bit counts. Now that the weather is getting nicer, I will come up with silly games to play outside - anything from tag to soccer.

It is hard but try to incorporate them as much as possible. Don't feel guilty taking the time for yourself either because in the end, it's beneficial to everyone.

I am 34, mother of 2, ages 7 (girl) and almost 13 (boy). I also work a Full Time 40 hour job and my husband works out of town Monday thru Friday, so I am a single mother Monday thru Friday. If I am not feeling too exhausted in the evenings, I will either walk or play the Wii Just Dance (huge calorie burner and FUN) WITH my kids. It makes working out a lot easier to have them join you. If they do not want to work out with me I may put in an exercise DVD and work out anyway.

In about a month my sons sports will start again and then I will be struggling to exercise with all of the running I will be doing. We live in the country so I have to drive them anywhere they need to go. It is not easy. I think my plan will be to try to go to the HS track and walk while he is at practice, I will just have to make my daughter go with me and she can either play or walk with me.

I do this too. While my daughter is in soccer practice I run around the track. It's very efficient - you will love it.

If my gym didn't have a playcare, I would never see the gym.

I am 33 yr old mom of 2 girls, ages 7 & 4. Typically I start my day with a run at 330am, while everyone is sleeping. Its just me and my dogs hitting the pavement. I work full time and am a chauffeur to soccer practices and gymnastics. Once everyone is in bed for the night, my husband and I do Insanity. I'm on week 6 and will be taking a week off prior to starting P90X. On the weekends when the weather is nice we have a family hike or bike ride to involve the girls in some outdoor exercise as well! There are plenty of days that I'm dragging, but feel so much more accomplished knowing I've completed my workouts.

I am a single mom to 2 very active kids. One is in hockey and then baseball and my other one is in softball, volleyball and basketball. I work full-time plus hours aswell. I found the best thing that works for me is doing it early mornings. It is way harder to find motivation for me if I don't do it first thing in the morning,even if i could find time. I cant come up with excuses because it is to dang early haha. I think it sets my day up in the right direction aswell.

30 day shred is only 20 minutes

I just turned 40, work FT and have 2 kiddos aged almost 5 and 2 1/2. I'm actually just maintaining my weight right now, but am a runner and generally do workout just about every day. I am another early-morning exerciser. My morning looks something like this:

5:15-5:30am (depends on when husband has to leave the house) - wake up
5:45-6:00am - begin workout
6:30-6:45am -end workout
by 6:45am -shower
between 7:15-7:20ish - wake kids
7:30-8am - kids dressed, fed, feed dogs
between 8am-8:15 - out the door, take kids to daycare, work by 9am
And then I generally eat breakfast (and lunch) at work.

If I wait until after work to try to exercise, I have no energy and no time as by the time we get home at 6, 6:30, it's all I can do to get dinner on the table and kids bathed/to bed by 8:30 or so.

Ed. to add - I don't actually belong to a gym right now - I either run outside or use an elliptical in my basement / DVDs.

I'm another one of these! Alarm is set for 4:45 and try to be at it by 5 every morning before everyone else is awake and the day can interrupt me. Of course I have days like today when I hit the snooze too many times, but that was/has been a key to my success so so far.

I've gone from a size18/20 after baby to 8/10 in 15 months. All in home workout DVDs, never stepped foot into a gym. It can be done but it takes consistency and dedication! You can do it too! :drinker:

Oh, I work full time (family business so very often that means MORE than full time, lol) And I am a mommy of two girls, 1 and 3 yrs old!!

EARLY when the family is still sleeping...but a most of wieght loss is just cutting back calories... There have been days ( or weeks) when I have not gotten in a work out- but as long as I stay in my calorie goal the weight loss has been steady... Good luck!:glasses:

Hi, I usually workout in the mornings. I wake up, make the kids their lunches, load up the coffee machine, etc. This is because I can't just jump out of bed and straight to exercising. Then I do my Jillian DVD workouts. It is out of the way so I don't have to stress about what is going to come up and prevent me from exercising, plus when I get home from work, my family and I are usually starving and ready to eat. I never felt like I really had any spare time, but you have to make room for it. You will actually have more energy overall, so you may not be as tired by the end of the day and be able to fit in a quick chore. I did have to change my schedule so I was waking up an entire hour earlier than before doing daily exercise. I used to only shower evry other day or every two days, but now I sweat and have to shower after working out, so it adds on time from my day.

I recommend starting with Jillian Michael's 30 day shred. It's perfect for beginners and time-strapped people as it is only 20 minutes long. C'mon girl, you can make 20 minutes happen! It's only 10 bucks or less in stores or on amazon, and you don't have to worry about child care arrangements because you do it in your own home.